Exercising treadmills of various configurations are in widespread use. Generally, such treadmills permit walking or running “in place” indoors to maintain a program of physical fitness or for medical testing purposes. Generally, exercise treadmills include a frame extending lengthwise of the treadmill that supports a treadmill deck. The deck generally includes a pair of laterally spaced apart side rails supporting a pair of longitudinally spaced apart (front and rear) rollers interposed therebetween and journaled with respect to the side rails. These rollers extend generally horizontally, and an endless treadmill belt is entrained around the rollers and the upper reach of the belt is supported by a bed or the like to provide surface that will support a user of the treadmill while walking or running thereon. The treadmill belt is driven by an electric motor or the like such that the upper reach of the belt moves from front to rear over the bed, thus permitting a user of the treadmill to walk or run in a forward direction on the moving belt so as to remain stationary with respect to the frame of the treadmill. Typically, the speed of the treadmill belt can be varied.
For a general description of such treadmills, reference may be made to our U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,822, issued Oct. 14, 1986, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
In addition to increasing or decreasing the speed of the belt to vary the amount of physical exertion expended by a user of the treadmill, it is common for the treadmill to have an elevation system that selectively raises the front of the treadmill belt/deck relative to the rear of the treadmill belt/deck, thus inclining the jogging or walking surface such that a person walking or jogging on the upper reach of the treadmill belt will, in essence, be required to walk or run uphill, thus expending additional energy. Examples of such an elevation system are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,643,943, 3,731,917, 3,826,491, 4,344,616, and in U.S. Design Pat. Nos. 270,555 and 273,029.
Common to these and many other prior art treadmills is that the treadmill deck, belt and walking/running surface remain neutral, flat, horizontal, or otherwise are not adjustable in the lateral direction. Despite the incline provided in the fore/aft direction (analogous to “pitch”), the consistency of the horizontal/orientation (analogous to “roll”) leads to excessive repetitive motion, and resulting excessive repetitive wearing on a limited portions of the anatomy, and in particular, limited portions of the joints of the foot, ankle, need, and hip that correspond to the limited (neutral) roll position of the deck.
What is needed is an exercise equipment arrangement that lessens or avoids such excessive repetitive motion, and such resulting excessive repetitive wearing on limited portions of the anatomy.